


near experience

by theragingstorm



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Flash Fiction, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Introspection, Post-Killing Joke, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 14:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16306532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theragingstorm/pseuds/theragingstorm
Summary: After getting shot, Barbara has a visitor at her hospital bed.





	near experience

**Author's Note:**

> About time I wrote something spooky, right?

_You have given me a difficult time over the last few years, you know. Constantly risking yourself the way you did. After all that, to be felled by a situation that wasn’t your fault in the slightest..._

She blinked open her eyes, wondering for a second if the painkillers were making her hallucinate.

 _No, I assure you I am very real._  

She sat up slightly in her hospital bed. The monitors kept beeping, every so slightly faster, the only other disturbance in this room of fluorescent white. Outside, it was cold and dark, and the branches of the sidewalk trees were like skeletal hands. 

The figure and their long robes were shimmery black, almost like a mirage. Slim, tall. But the face...

She couldn’t quite make out the face underneath.

”Logic dictates that you can’t be a physical being,” she rasped. Her throat was painful from lack of use. “And quite frankly, to say that you’re real is exactly what a hallucination would say.”

 _And that is_ exactly _what_ you _would say._ The figure flickered slightly. _Only the second time you’ve woken up since that shooting, and you’re already making judgements._

She was about to retort, when the mention of the shooting, the memories, all crashed down on her again. She fell back into her pillows, her breathing shaky. The white suddenly reminded her too much of bone. 

 _Don’t pull your stitches._  

A hand went unconsciously to the side of her belly. The wound that still ached. 

“So I gave you a hard time? I’m glad I did.”

 _Yes, you are not the first of your kind who did. And you will not be the last._  

“My kind?”

 _The masked and caped kind. You all do like to defy me, to escape me._ The figure inclined their head. It could’ve been more of her imagination, if this whole encounter wasn’t, but she thought that they sounded grudgingly impressed. _That family you chose to ally yourself with...I’ve been constantly at their sides ever since your mentor lost his parents._

”I would think.” She shifted herself. “He and his boys don’t have much regard for their personal safety.”

 _No. Especially not the second one._ They bowed their head. _He will...well. He invites me even now, as he searches for his mother._

”He what!?” She tried to sit up. “I should be there, I should —”

_Should know that there is nothing you can do for him. His fate is his own, as it is for all beings._

She glared at them viciously. 

“Are you going to be helpful at all, or are you just going to stand there musing all day, then?”

_I am not helpful. I only do my job. And you can only see me because you came closer than you ever have before to giving me your soul._

Her glare didn’t alleviate. 

_I can promise you, you will have the second one in your arms again, sooner than you expect. What’s more, the ones that are yet to come won’t stay with me long either. Your family are far too stubborn._

”They’re not my family. Not anymore. I can’t work with them now.”

_Can’t you?_

She was silent for a moment.

“Not _now_ , no. Maybe some other time, some other way.”

 _Remember that, if you remember anything._ They flickered again. _Or remember this...what you did, when you were lying on the ground in a pool of your own blood and I reached for your soul._

She faced the figure directly, and they lifted their shrouded head —

— their face finally coming into view. 

 _You pulled away from me. Your soul refused to come with me._ Not now, _you said._ Not yet. Not if I have anything to say about it. _You ripped yourself out of my grasp, and you held onto life._

She nodded. She kept her proud gaze level, still looking directly into that face. 

_You are very good at holding onto life, Barbara Gordon. Believe me when I say that — I know what I’m talking about._

She didn’t remember falling asleep again. Nor what had happened when she woke up for the third time. But when the doctors knelt in front of her and confirmed that she would never walk again, she hurt more than she’d ever hurt before, but she didn’t break. She had never broken.

_Holding onto life..._


End file.
